Cast Confirmations, Scandal, and Mental Illness–It’s Okay, It’s Love!

FINALLY. We have a cast. Or we officially have a cast. The leads, Gong Hyo Jin and Jo In Sung who’ve been ‘looking favorably’ on the upcoming drama It’s Okay, It’s Love have finally manned up and signed on. They should have taken a page out of Kwang Soo’s book with a mere week between rumor and confirmation.

So now that our cast is confirmed we can move on. You know, to the drama’s first scandal. Wait, what? Drama is months away and it’s already scandalous? Yeppers! It has something to do with a planned product placement deal. To which I say–why complain now? Wait a little while. You know–until the drama actually comes out and you can see it to be obtrusive, overwhelming and irritating. Like King2Hearts and Dunkin’ Donuts.

I don’t know, I just don’t find myself caring as much about little product placements here or there. It’s pretty much the name of the game. I just ask that productions don’t turn the episode into a mini commercial. A brief flash on a product name? Okay. Someone using the newest phone? That’s fine. A conversation between characters talking about the new wonder of tablets? (This totally happened in both Heartstrings and Gloria.) Uncool. Something that’s going to take me out of the story is bad. But they’ve got to pay the piper somehow, right?

Lets move on to something more interesting.

The drama is still being touted as the first drama about people dealing with psychological issues. While the Kdrama universe is filled with crazy characters, it’s pretty true that characters with actual mental illnesses are few and far between. And if you do have a character with an issue, you certainly hardly ever see them getting help from doctors.

The hero himself,(now officially being played by Jo In Sung), is dealing with an obsessive compulsive disorder. In my brain, I’m thinking that this is not the first time we’ve had a hero with issues like this. It’s like this is the acceptable mental illness for heroes. No wait–maybe that’s claustrophobia. Or agoraphobia. Let’s make a list of the ones I remember.

Who Are You: (The dead father inhabiting the body of the love interest drama not the ghost drama of last year) The hero was Obsessive compulsive.

Secret Garden: Hero suffered from debilitating claustrophobia.

Protect the Boss: Hero has–I want to say agoraphobia. A fear of public.

Me Too, Flower!: Now this one was different, this drama is the one that actually had the heroine in job required therapy because of anger issues stemming from depression. If I remember correctly the therapist who was also the heroes friend said the hero suffered from a fear of people as well.

Usually therapists are used as a point of humor in dramas–confirming that the hero or heroine is suffering from a case of love-itice. It’s only Me Too Flower!, who (almost) realistically dealt with people having issues, getting care for them, and the stigma that this brings.

Does amnesia count as a mental illness? If so–well, that one would win hands down as most used illness given to a main lead.

I’m really interested to see how they deal with this. I’ve seen the writers previous work, Thank You and it’s realistic portrayal of a family dealing with HIV. Thank You, while not an easy watch, is really worthwhile. It also starred Gong Hyo Jin as the mother of an HIV positive child. The story was heartbreaking, interesting, and uplifting. Thinking about that one, makes me eager for It’s Okay, It’s Love. The only downside is that this writer also likes open endings.

Hrm.

Upside? As it’s the director of That Winter, the Wind Blows and Padam Padam, we know that this is going to be a beautifully shot, moody drama. Woot! I love me some pretty TV. And of course, as the leads are now definitely going to be Gong Hyo Jin and Jo In Sung, we know it’s going to be well acted as well. I’m truly looking forward to seeing Gong Hyo Jin in something a little more serious, and I’m absolutely looking forward to this drama.